Cadillac plots European return

Cadillac is planning to announce a new distribution arrangement for the UK and Europe by the time of March’s Geneva motor show.

Cadillac is weighing ‘multiple proposals’ for the distribution arrangements, which are thought to include various different independent distributors and the possibility of Vauxhall/Opel taking over the responsibility itself.

"We’ve got multiple proposals along all those lines and we’ll make a decision soon. I’d like to be at Geneva with a solution,” said Cadillac general manager Bryan Nesbitt.

Cadillac needs a new distributor because its previous arrangement came to an end last year when its Dutch partner Kroymans hit financial trouble. As a result sales are declining.

But the company desperately needs new and solid distribution arrangements in the UK and Europe because a new range of cars with a more subtle design language are on their way.

These will more obviously target the three major executive car segments – in BMW terms, 3-, 5- and 7-series.

The five-metre long XTS saloon concept shown at Detroit is the first sighting of this evolved design language which takes the heavily-creased Art and Science theme developed in the late 1990s.

Although the XTS is sized around the Merc S-Class, it won’t necessarily be the flagship of Cadillac new range.

Most immediately it will replace both the DTS and STS, but in pricing and positioning it still leaves room above for a super-luxury Cadillac saloon in the mould of the V16-powered Sixeen concept of a few years back.

Join the debate

I can see now why GM want's Saab out of the way as Saab is competion for Cadillac.......

Don't get me wrong the newer cars look quite nice and even the BLS which we have, well for another two months has been a good car overall. But then it is basically a Saab 93 brought for a song at a year old is a bit different quite attractive overall and good long distance cruiser.

For Cadillac to sell here it needs a car that people actually want to buy and a good dealership network that funnily enough was connected to Strastone Saab.......

In Europe, nobody can compete with German premium brands: Lexus tried and failed, Alfa and Lancia attempt to establish each their new car as a proper competitor to Mercs and BMWs but they also fail. Same thing with Volvo and Saab. There is one manufacturer that could establish himself as a true premium brand, alongside Mercedes and BMW, during last two decades... but it is also German brand: Audi

The GM boys seem to have difficulty understanding that we're not particularly interested in their blinged up confections. Third times the charm. Let's hope it is for us and that this time when the cars flop spectacularly (again) they stay out of Europe.

This is a joke. Kill Saab and then try to flog Cadillacs in Europe? NOBODY is interested in Cadillacs in Europe, definitely not ex Saab buyers. It has nothing to do with the dealer network. It just won't work.

This is getting as annoying as Alfa Romeo to launch in the US ... which they have been doing since 1993 when they withdrew.

Cadillac will not sell .... because a) no diesels ... until you have a big 3+ litre TD don't bother. b) RHD ... if you want to sell it in the UK and Ireland you need RHD. Then you can also sell them in Japan, Oz, SA and so on. Do it properly or don't bother. And lastly c) which stands for crap, don't sell crap here please. So no Escalade, no BLS and so on.

And yes I know the BLS had a diesel, but it is not a Cadillac ... it is a Saab.

"it still leaves room above for a super-luxury Cadillac saloon in the mould of the V16-powered Sixeen concept "

Three words if you want any chance of success in Europe:

DIESEL DIESEL DIESEL!

Who the h£ll do they think would be interested in a V16 Yank Tank?! Even VW cant shift the 300 or so W16 Veyron models over its 6 years life span. SAAB was already established here -in terms of dealers and brand image- so GM should of invested their funds in new models for them instead of bringing Caddy over here. When company bosses are this dumb you could almost say they deserve to fail.

Interestingly, the BLS is built by SAAB in sweden so I guess it will now be discontinued? Not that anyone will notice...

Duh, dumb American corporate mentality! Kill off uniquely European Saab brand and then try for the umpteenth time to impose US tanks on us when we have clearly no love of them. If the money poured into tranny-ing the 9-3 into the doomed BLS had instead been invested in bringing the 9-5 and next 903 closer to launch, maybe Saab could have held its market share - it had a record sales year as recently as 2007 - don't be fooled by current year when all the GM negativite press had killed sales. SAAB has an independent future away from GM there are 5 bidders, at least 3 are submitting further iteratiosn of their bids TODAY. Cadillac - I'd be amazed is they sell single figures in Europe, and then prob to ex-pat yanks.

American cars are a niche market here and in Europe. True, Corvette is good - but only a handful of people buy it. Chrysler tried - again, small sales of slightly interesting cars (I did like the 300C..). But Cadillac has no hope in Europe - even if they ever offer diesel (could re-badge the Opel/Buick Insignia as a Caddy I guess..lol!). A car seen as a Floridian pensioner car won't suceed aagainst the established German offerings.

Big mistake for GM - not concentrating on Saab to compete in the exec European market - they might have made it work with a little effort. But Caddy? No way GM!